All of the Fort ships, except two which were paid for outright, were
transferred on bareboat charter on lease-lend terms from the Canadian Government
or the U.S. War Shipping Administration who bought ninety of the 'Forts' built
in Canada. Under such a scheme, the owner supplies the ship but the
charterer (in this case the British Government) is responsible for supplying and
equipping the vessel with all fuel, chandlery, hardware, paint and other
expendable supplies. When the ship is returned to the owner, a reverse
adjustment is made for fuel and supplies which remain on board.

The ninety ships purchased by the U.S. were obtained through the 'Hyde Park
Declaration' which was signed by the U.S.A. and Canada on 20 April 1941.
All these vessels were delivered between February 1942 and May 1943.

Crew for the vessels were assembled in Britain and sent by passenger liner to
collect their new ships. The British MOWT (Ministry of War Transport)
appointed a manager who was responsible for recruiting crew and for the
day-to-day management but had no say in the selection of cargoes or the routing
and destination of a vessel.

Prince Rupert Shipbuilders

The first contracts for 20 vessels were signed in 1941.
Burrard Dry Dock contracted for 8 and the remaining orders went to Canadian
Vickers and Davie Shipbuilding Ltd. The contract price for each of the Burrard
ships was $1,856,500. The first ship to be delivered was the Fort St James,
which was laid down on 23 April 1941 and launched on 15 October. The ship was
delivered at the end of January 1942, a total of 281 days.

At the end of the war, all the 'Fort' ships which had survived were returned
to the owners:

Type

Original number transferred to UK

Number lost while controlled by UK

Returned to Canada or USA for disposal

North Sands

66 (Canada)

90 (USMC)

6

26

60 Canada

64 USA

Victory

32 (Canada)

4

28 Canada

FORT NAKASLEY, Lyttleton, New Zealand, 1948.

Photograph courtesy of Clive Lewis

FORT NAKASLEY, Taranaki, New Plymouth, NZ.
Mount Paritutu is in the background. Picture taken from Mainmast table of SS
Mahana, 1948.

Photograph courtesy of Frank Baker

Send mail to Angela DeRoy-Jones with
questions or comments about this web site.
Last modified: May 27, 2004

Copyright
notice: Please note that the photographic copyright belongs to that of the
original owners.